Index.



R. W. WOOD.

INDEX.

APPLIUATION TILED OUT. 26, 1908.

WITNESSES Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

INVENTOI? f1? icfzaz'imaci ATFQRNEYS UNITED BTATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD WM. WOOD, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

INDEX.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD WILLIAM IVoon, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Seattle, in the county of King and State of vVashington, have invented a new and Improved Index, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

One object of the invention is to provide an index, by the use of which a word may be readily indexed up to its third letter, the book or cards of a card index or ledger being conveniently arranged for reference.

Still another object of the invention is to arrange figures on the leaves or cards so that the user can quickly turn to the page or card of the desired number.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the following complete description.

In this specification, I will describe the preferred form of my invention, but I do not limit myself thereto, as I consider myself entitled to all forms and embodiments of the invention which may be held to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the index book open and the arrangement of the pages; and Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the arrangement by which words having the same first letter are classified according to their second and third letters.

By referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the index is bound in book form with a binder 1 of the usual form, and that tags 2 are secured to certain of the leaves 3, the leaves 3 to which the tags 2 are secured being spaced apart. Letters of the alphabet are stamped on these tags, and by this arrangement, words are classified ac cording to their first letter, all the words commencing with D being found between the tags bearing the letters D and E &c., as is familiar to those who are acquainted with the keeping of books. Between any two of the tags 2, one of which, for instance, is stamped D and the other stamped with the letter E, there are any number of intervening pages and certain of these pages which are spaced apart, are marked consecutively with the letters of the alphabet as at 4, these letters being stamped Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 26, 1908.

Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

Serial No. 459,481.

in the corners of the pages. The leaves between the leaves on which the letters 4C are stamped, have cut-away portions 5, which exhibit the letter 4:, printed on the corner of the page which is not cut. The leaves are also cut sufficiently to permit a bookkeeper to see the exposed surfaces of certain of the pages lying immediately upon the page on which the letter A is printed on the corner, and on these exposed surfaces are printed letters 6. The pages having the letters 4: printed on their corners permit of the classification of words commencing with the same letter, according to their second letters and the letters 6 on the exposed portions of the other pages referred to, permit of the classificationof words commencing with the same first two letters according to their third letters. There are also letters 7 printed on some of the pages, which correspond with the letters 6 printed on pages immediately in front thereof, but the letters 7 are covered by the pages immediately in front be fore the leaves are turned. These letters 7 are provided in order that the bookkeeper may be able to readily refer to the immediately preceding pages, should occasion re quire and readily find the page on which an entry should be made.

As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the letters A, B, O, and D are referred to by the reference characters 6 on one of the pages under which there is another page having thereon the letters E, F, G, and H, which are also designated by the reference character 6, there being under the said letters 6 of the second-mentioned page, letters A, B, O and D, which are referred to by the reference character 7, and which are normally covered by the first page. On the third page, the letters referred to by the reference character 6 are I, J, K, L, M and N, there being under these letters two rows of letters 7, there being in the first row E, F, G and H, and in the second row A, B, O, and D. These two rows of letters are normally covered by the second page. The letters on the remaining pages are arranged according to the same system.

In using the index, should the bookkeeper desire to enter the name Doe he would turn to the tags 2, opening at the one printed with the letter D; he would then refer to the letters 4 on the corners of the pages until he reached the one bearing the letter O, which is the second letter of the name,

and he would then refer to the letters 6, which are exhibited by the cut-away portions of the immediately preceding pages until he found E, when he would turn all the pages in front thereof, as the entry should be Y made on that page. The D corresponding with the tag 2, stamped with the letter 1), the O corresponding with the letter O designated as l, and the E corresponding with the letter E which appears on the margin left by the cut-away portion of the page on which the entry should be made. It will, of course, be understood that, when desired, several pages, each having the same characte 's thereon and having similar cut-away portions may be used in the book, side by side, in order that a greater number of entries may be made, but this will not interfere with the bookkeeper readily finding the place where an entry should be made, inasmuch as by looking at the page with the letter O thereon in the corner designated as l, the bookkeeper will be able at the same time to refer to the preceding pages and to turn to the first page where the entry Doe should be made, and if that has been filled with entries, it will merely be necessary for him to turn to the next page. Should an entry Dole be made, after which the bookkeeper desires to enter the word, or name Dob he can, by referring to the rows of letters 7, which are printed below the letters 6, determine how many pages may be turned to the right to reach the page on which the entry should be made, the first row of letters 7 referring to the first set of pages to the left, the second row of letters 7 referring to the second set of pages, and so on. The bookkeeper, by feeling the pages, can determine the position of the different sets of the preceding pa 'es, as they are distinguishable because each set has its corners of .a different length from its neighboring sets. E or instance, when entering the name Dole the bookkeeper would see on that page, not only the letters I, J. K, L, M, N, on the margin, but on the next line he would see the letters E, F, G, H, and on the line below the last-named letters, he would see the letters A, B, C, D. He would, therefore, know that two divisions to the left would have to be reached in order to make the entry, and these two divisions could be quickly ascertained by means of feeling the cut-away portions, until the two unequal surfaces were reached, inasmuch as the page on which the letters A, B, C, D are printed is further cut away than the page on which the letters E, F, G, H are printed on the margin.

It will-be understood that when it is desired to number the pages instead of lettering them, figures may be used. Figures representing tens would be used instead of the letters at at; units instead of the letters at 5 and 6, and numbers such as 50, 100, 150,

I do not limit myself to the specific index characters shown, as it is obvious that I may make use of any identifying characters.

lVhile in this specific index, I refer to a book index and to pages therein, it will be understood that cards forming a card index may be used in place of a book index, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An index, leaves, certain of the leaves having identifying characters in their corners in a series by which the entries may be classified, the leaves between the last-mentioned leaves with the identifying characters having cut-away portions to exhibit the identifying characters respectively, the cut-away portions being also sufficient to exhibit surfaces of adjoining leaves respectively, there being identifying characters on the leaves with the cut-away portions, some of which are exhibited by the cut-away portions of the next adjoining leaves to further classify the entries, the remainder being normally covered by the next adjoining leaves, the exhibited identifying characters being identi cal with the identifying characters on the adjoining leaves, which are normally covered and are adapted to serve as a guide in finding the cut-away leaves with the identifying characters, which are normally exhibited.

2. In an index, leaves, there being exhibited surfaces at the sides of certain of the leaves, which are separated by the remaining leaves respectively, there being identifying characters in series on the said exhibited surfaces by which a general classification of the entries may be made, certain of the remaining leaves having identifying characters in their corners in series by which the entries, falling within a heading of the general classification, may be further classified, the leaves between the last named leaves with identifying characters having cut-away portions to exhibit the last named identifying characters respectively, the cut-away portions being also sufficient to exhibit surfaces on adjoining leaves respectively, there being identifying characters on the leaves with the cut-away portions, some of which are exhibited by the cut-away portions of the next adjoining leaves to further classify the entries, the remainder being normally covered by the next adjoining leaves, the exhibited identifying characters being identical with the identifying characters on the adjoining leaves, which are normally covered and are adapted to serve as a guide in E finding the cut-away leaves with the identifying characters which are normally exhibited.

l In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RICHARD WM. WOOD. Witnesses:

OSCAR D. TRICK, PAUL J. GERHARDT. 

